Jenson update: Nine Months Old

This month it felt like Jenson really isn’t as much of a baby anymore.  I know he’s not a toddler yet, but he’s just so much more independent and I know being mobile and talking is just around the corner.  It’s so exciting, but sad at the same time.  People said the first year would go fast, but I could have never expected it to feel like this.  Jenson grew!  He finally moved up in percentile for weight – from 10% – 35%.  On a related note, he loves food.  He really increased his table food intake and has gotten so much better at getting more in his mouth.

Monthly Jenson update:  June 7 – July 6, 2014

• Age:  9 1/2 months at time of posting.
• Weight:  approx. 18 lbs, 14 oz.
• Length:  27 inches
  
• Size:  He’s grown out of  most of his 6 month clothes, and is wearing either 9 or 12 months.
• Diapers:  Cloth diapers, except at night.  Our favorites seem to be Best Bottoms and Flips, and then Bum Genius Freetime for when he’s going to be in it for longer and we want him to feel dry against his skin.  He wears disposables at night and wearing size 3 now.  He’s been getting diaper rash more often now – I think it has to do with eating different foods.  We’d had to resort to rinsing diapers or using disposable liners for his #2’s not that he eats more food.  It’s no longer just liquid.
• Hair and Eyes: He has so much hair now – it’s really filled in, but it’s lightening up I think.  It’s getting long on his forehead and hanging over his ears if I don’t tuck it back. It may be time for a trim soon. 🙁 His eyes are more grayish blue now, and so big and bright.  I still think they’ll change, but it’d be awesome if they didn’t.

• Teeth: One of his bottom teeth finally poked through on July 16. It’s just barely out at this point.  He was a little fussy the evening before, and woke up fussing several times in the night on his stomach and not able to roll onto his back.  Lo’s mom was staying with him the next day and she noticed the tooth had come through.  He’s been a little fussier since then…it’s possible the second is coming through sometime soon.
  
• Sleeping:  His sleep got better this month, and he even slept through the night a few times.  He typically wakes and nurses once during the night still.  He gets stuck on his stomach sometimes and wants to be on his back, so I have to go in and flip him over.  He doesn’t usually even really wake up.  Sometimes he’ll stay on his stomach for a couple of hours.  He wakes again around 630 or 7, and I nurse him before work, or bring him to bed on the weekend to sleep with us for another hour or two.  I know it’s a bad habit, but I love waking up with him all snuggled up against me.  He’s pretty consistent with 2 naps a day of 45 minutes to 2 hours.  One morning nap an hour or two after he gets up, and one in the afternoon.  Sometimes he fights his naps a lot, but I’ve been able to get him to sleep by singing Alice in Chains “Rooster” and Billy Joel “Goodnight Saigon”…not your typically lullabies, but whatever.

• Eating:  Nursing sometimes feels like a wrestling match.  He’s really distracted and wants to sit up and look around, or chew on his toes.  If he hears a noise or voice, he has to stop to listen. It takes twice as long to feed him now because of this, and it can be a little frustrating.  I can pretty much forget about nursing him in public now.  I typically take him upstairs and nurse him on our bed now.  He takes breaks and rolls around and plays, unless he’s really tired and is nursing to sleep.
  He’s eating a ton of table food now.  We aren’t doing true baby led weaning because I don’t usually give him big pieces of things to gnaw on.  He tends to shove things in his mouth and it’s just too hard to make sure he’s not going to choke.  I tear things up and put them on his tray usually, or put them in a silicone feeder for him.  He really increased his intake between the 8-9 months.  I can barely get the food torn up and on his tray fast enough before he wants more.  He seems to prefer proteins- shredded chicken or pork, ground turkey or beef, eggs, and even fish.  So far he hasn’t refused anything that we’ve offered.  If we are eating something that is appropriate for him (like not pizza), we give him bits of what we are eating, otherwise he usually has some sort of veggie, fruit, and some leftover meat.  He usually just has two meals a day and that’s just worked out best for when he naps, but we probably need to add a meal in soon.  He typically only takes 4 bottles now while I’m at work instead of 5, due to his eating and napping “schedule”.

• Movement:  Jenson  FINALLY rolled back to front!  He’d been getting close for so long.  Once he mastered it, he spent hours rolling around in the evening practicing. He especially likes to roll around on our bed.  He sits really well and can even squirm around while on his butt without falling usually.  When he’s on his stomach or back, he can kind of squirm around to get to what he wants a little.  He get his knees under him and rocks back and forth, but hasn’t started crawling, except for inching around on his belly. He loves standing up and holding onto things (or us).  Sometimes he’ll step his feet a little.
  He mocks our movements a lot.  He’ll bang on his high chair if I do it, or try to bang two toys together.  He not only likes to drop things to watch them fall, he’ll throw his toys just out of reach, and then try to reach them.
• Words & Sounds:
  Babbling is still mostly Dadada, but I think he does relate that to Loren now.  He’ll say it when he hears or sees him (but also says it randomly still).  His next favorite sound is Ba.  I think he’s going to say Boof next, because he’ll say B and then Ff.  He talks so loud sometimes – especially if he’s trying to keep himself awake (like in the car).  Other times he whispers sounds, like he’s practicing.  He’s very giggly and happy, but he will occasionally show a little temper now.  Sometimes he’ll start crying when he gets frustrated, or he grunt and straighten his arms and clench his fists (hulking out), or cry and yell dadadadadada.  He’s definitely becoming more strong-willed about things.
• Milestones:
  – Father’s Day.  We had a relaxing morning, dinner with friends, and then went to his first baseball game for the Columbus Clippers.

– First parade.  We went to the Worthington Hills 4th of July parade with friends and then to a cookout at their house.

– Rolled back to front
– First tooth (bottom right) on July 16
– First time in a swing (loved it)

– Gives kisses- they are open-mouth and slobbery, and completely awesome.
– First baby shower (for baby Tominey)

– First 5k for the Jakestrong 5k in Powell.

• Favorite Toys/Activities:
  – Practicing rolling
  – Sitting on his car.  He can even scoot it forward a little bit.

– Being sung to.  It doesn’t really matter what, but he really likes Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Wheels on the Bus.  We make up words for all of the kids songs like that, and every song has Boof’s name in it.  Actually some songs only have Boof’s name in them (to any tune).
– Rocking and playing in the exersaucer
– Playing outside on a blanket or in the exersaucer
– Watching Boof and trying to get her toys

– Zombie baby: he yells and bites at my face when he’s hungry.  He’ll try to suck on my chin or nose.
– Slamming his feet down when trying to put himself to sleep
– He loves kisses (thank goodness!), and have his cheeks, chin, and neck stroked lightly.  Sometimes when he’s fussy and needs to nap, I can kiss him to sleep.  I just kiss his cheek lightly over and over again, and he calms and the falls asleep.
– Looking at books.  It seems like he finally pays attention and is interested when we read to him.
– He likes to splash around in the bath, and he’s outgrown his little tub for the sink, so we use this duck tub in the bathtub or the yard.